Paris is Always a Good Idea

Three of the scarves that I designed for my current collection.  From left, Natalie Frank, Katherine Bernhardt and Trudy Benson x Maria Brito. 

I was in Paris to launch my newest accessory collection in collaboration with three amazing women artists: Katherine Bernhardt, Natalie Frank and Trudy Benson and in between work appointments and fashion shows and presentations, I checked out some of the best exhibitions I've ever seen in my life.

Starting with the Centre Pompidou which is showing a retrospective of Hervé Télémaque, a French-Haitian painter who influenced Basquiat with his colors, shapes and messages of race and cultural crossover. I was completely in love with the large scale canvases and the use of saturated warm colors. My only wish is that we would see more of his work on this side of the world. 

One of Telemaque's amazing canvases 

Also at the Pompidou, a survey of contemporary artists that included canvases, photography, videos, sculptures and installations in super playful topics and intense colors allowed me to get lost for hours in the hallways of this celebrated institution.  As part of this exhibit entitled “Une histoire. Art, architecture et design des années 1980 à nos jours” which covered works created between 1980 and today I stumbled upon some extraordinary pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tobias Rheberger, Sarah Morris, Subodh Gupta and Wilfredo Prieto and many more. As if all of these wonderful shows weren’t enough, the Pompidou is also hosting Jeff Koons’s retrospective which although isn’t as extensive as the one at the Whitney, it feels fresh and exciting even when these works have been seen over and over again.

In the gallery realm, I truly enjoyed the massively immersive show of Daniel Buren at Kamel Menour.  Galerie Perrotin opened Xavier Veilhan’s “Music” as a continuation of the New York exhibit where Veilhan’s pays homage to the music producers of our time.  Jan Fabre’s show at Galerie Daniel Templon was also a winner, showing several mosaic pieces from two different series: Hommage au Congo belge and Hommage à Jérôme Bosch au Congo which were created and started as a result from the fiftieth anniversary of Congolese independence in 2010.

Daniel Buren's latest show at Kamel Menour

Xavier Velhan's "Music" exhibition at Galerie Perrotin

Jan Fabre's solo show at Galerie Daniel Templon

Finally, at the Maison Rouge, a solo show of Jérôme Zonder, a French artist that I discovered four years ago at the Galerie Eva Hober in Le Marais, was an engulfing experience mixing dark fairy tales and wallpaper forests.  I’m always enthralled by the work of Zonder whose prodigious talent make his pencil and charcoal drawings of spellbinding qualities even for someone who, like me, isn’t much into monochromatic schemes. 

A detail of one of Zonder's drawings

Paris always delights me, always surprises me and always inspires me.  In the end, Paris is always a good idea.